Construction companies demanded that the Ministry of Housing contract with security and guard companies to receive the completed housing units, according to Sahl Al Damrawi, a member of the Association of Businesspeople and a member of the Union of Building and Construction.
Several complaints were submitted by the new social housing unit’s owners in the different governorates, complaining from thefts of finished apartments, such as doors, wires, and taps.
Al Damrawi said that many contracting companies are exposed to heavy losses due to forcing them to secure housing units after they were handed over to the Ministry of Housing.
Al Damrawi noted that contracting companies are not specialised in security, that they do not have the cadres specialised in it, and that they are exposed daily to apartments being robbed of their electrical appliances and other components, making them obliged to re-install these items several times until a unit is delivered. In several projects, this takes up to years.
He called on the Minister of Housing to contract with specialised companies to secure housing units so that the losses incurred by contracting companies would be reduced, which includes disabling the payment of some of their dues because of thefts and disabling the final receipt of the letters of guarantee to banks.
“The contracting company’s responsibility ends immediately after the initial delivery,” Al Damrawi added.
An official at the Armed Forces Engineering Authority in 6th of October City told Daily News Egypt that social housing projects are usually robbed. One time, the cost incurred by a construction company was EGP 80,000 to replace taps only.
